


Life on Fire

by Maverick



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Gen, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:33:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25834318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick
Summary: Nile teaches an old guard new tricks.AKA Joe is a thirst trap but only for Nicky.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 77
Kudos: 813





	Life on Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Rumi: _Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames._
> 
> If betaing was an Olympic sport, Pollitt would be a Gold Medal Winner. I am so lucky to have her in my corner. 
> 
> This story started as a one liner in a longer, more serious story and basically held me hostage until I wrote it. Happy One Month Anniversary Old Guard, you own my soul, apparently. 
> 
> And yes, Andy isn't even in this one and I still managed to reference Andy/Baked Goods. Apparently that's gonna be my shtick.

Every day Nile learned something new from her team, whether it was language practice, a new fighting move, or the correction of a history fact that blew her mind from someone who was there. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t teach them things as well. She taught Andy how to make a cake in a mug in the microwave. She set Joe up with a digital tablet so he could sketch using a new medium. And she got Nicky addicted to telenovelas much to Joe and Andy’s chagrin.

She even convinced Andy to start an Instagram under an alias where all she did was post pictures of the desserts she was eating. The amount of likes she got was ridiculous. 

For the last week, they’d been holed up in the beta safe house. It was a big sprawling estate just outside of Cardiff, Wales. Much better than the abandoned church where she met them for the first time or the one room flat they shared in Croatia. 

Andy had taken the train to London to meet Copely about their next job, so it was just the three of them. Nicky was upstairs listening to an online lecture on how to help African women start small businesses while she and Joe worked out in the gym. They’d already finished their tahtib practice -- or, as she liked to call it, stinging stick fighting because man did it sting when you got hit. They had moved on to weight training. Nile was always amazed at what good shape Joe was in. What was the phrase her mom always said, he was hiding his light under a bushel basket. Or in Joe’s case a long sleeved Under Armour t-shirt. 

He was spotting her as she bench-pressed. They were talking about a range of topics when social media came up. Joe was unaware of most of them, probably by choice. But she wondered. 

“So you’ve never sent Nicky a thirst trap using SnapChat?” 

Joe set the bar down on the rack and looked down at Nile like she was speaking a language he had never heard. “Come again?”

She sat up and rubbed her hands together. “Oh, this is going to be fun. Give me your phone.” She downloaded SnapChat on Joe’s phone, took a quick picture of him and showed him how to scroll the various filters. “You play around with these and I’m going to go install it on Nicky’s phone.” 

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Oh yeah.” It was a great idea. 

She ran up the stairs two at a time. She was back in less than ten minutes. “You know for an immortal warrior used to being hunted by unknown enemies, Nicky is remarkably trusting.” 

Joe sighed the sigh of someone who had lived that truth for a very long time. “It’s one his most endearing and exasperating qualities.” 

“Okay, did you decide on a filter?”

“No. But I find the animal ones very disturbing. Why would anyone want to be a dog?”

Nile nodded and took the phone from Joe. “People are weird. Haven’t you learned that yet?” Although you’d look adorable with bunny ears.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “Take off your shirt?”

Joe raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me? Why would I do that?”

Nile started tugging at the hem of Joe’s shirt. “What don’t you understand about thirst trap?”

Joe shrugged his shoulders. “How about everything?”

Nile laughed. These old men. “A thirst trap is where you send a sexy picture over social media. Some people do it so lots of people will see it and thirst over it. But yours will just be for Nicky. You know what thirst means right?” 

Joe nodded and tried hard not to roll his eyes at her. In for a penny, Joe took his shirt off. “Now what?” 

“Go do another set of those pull-ups and then tilt your head back and squirt water from your water bottle into your mouth.” 

What the hell? Joe thought. He didn’t move immediately and Nile put her hands on her hips, clearly trying to scold him. It was so endearing, Joe did as Nile instructed and completed another set of pull ups, adding a few salmon jumps up the structure at the end. He picked up the water bottle as she took several pictures, rapid fire. She stopped and scrolled through the pictures. “Oh boy. This is the one.” 

She showed Joe. His biceps and forearms were well-defined and his chest glistened from the exertion. The water that was streaming from the bottle into his mouth made his lips wet and his tongue was darting out. Nile had even somehow captured the very moment he was thinking about Nicky because he could see the look of lust in his eyes that only bloomed when he thought of how _he_ thirsted for his beloved. He had to admit, the picture was damn hot. “Fuck.” 

Nile hopped with excitement. “You play your cards right, hot shot, and I think that’s in your near future. “Okay, I don’t even think this needs a filter. Wait five minutes and send the picture to Nicky. All you gotta do is hit this button here, but please wait until I get outta Dodge.” 

Joe nodded. Nile ran back upstairs and told Nicky to watch his phone as she gathered her stuff to go out for lunch. 

She waited just outside the door so she could hear Nicky’s phone ping. She could hear his gasp and how he juggled and dropped the phone to the ground. The last thing she heard was him calling out “Yusef, Santo cazzo Madre di Cristo,” as he bound his way down the stairs to the gym.

Nile wasn’t sure what those actual words meant, but she was pretty sure it implied that Joe was about to get lucky. Nile smiled as she walked down the stairs and out the courtyard. Yep, this lesson might even rank higher than the mug cake.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations:
> 
> Santo cazzo Madre di Cristo - Holy fucking mother of Christ
> 
> Inspired by [this vid ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nah3edKnBEI)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Silently Drawn](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26007184) by [Maverick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maverick/pseuds/Maverick)




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